Alex Barclay - Harm's Reach

‘You’re hardly old,’ said Ren, smiling back. Come on, open up to me. Please. It’s clear you love this woman and you are lying about something so monumental.

‘So, what did you do?’ said Ren.

Make this make sense to me.

‘I talked to the fertility doctor, explained my situation,’ said Prince. ‘He and I went through lists of donors, we found someone who looked like me... he took care of the rest.’

‘How is your wife?’ said Ren.

‘She’s heartbroken,’ said Robert. ‘She’s at our house in the country.’

‘That would be the Hamptons,’ said Ren.

He nodded. ‘Yes.’

‘Does she know about this now — that you’re not the father of the baby?’

‘No,’ he said. ‘She has no idea. Nor will she.’

‘Were you not concerned we would tell her the results of the swabs?’

‘I knew you’d have to talk to me first,’ said Robert.

‘Did Laura Flynn know that you were not the biological father?’ said Ren.

‘Laura? No,’ said Robert. ‘Absolutely not.’

‘Is there any way she could have found out?’ said Ren.

‘No... there was no paperwork about this, it was all done in private with the doctor and his office. He’s a personal friend.’

‘Can I ask,’ said Ren, ‘isn’t there a conflict between your religious views and your decision to use a surrogate?’

He hesitated. ‘I don’t see it that way.’

‘I’m quoting here,’ said Ren, looking down at her notebook. ‘It’s from a speech given by the Pope. There is an “inseparable connection, willed by God, and unable to be broken by man on his own initiative, between the two meanings of the conjugal act: the unitive meaning and the procreative meaning”. IVF separates those two parts,’ said Ren, ‘so the Catholic Church is against it.’

‘If I was opposed to surrogacy,’ said Robert, ‘then I wouldn’t have agreed to it in the first place, which I clearly did.’

‘Maybe it was a decision you went on to regret,’ said Ren.

Robert shook his head. ‘Not one bit. I respect life, all lives.’

‘So, in your mind, because your sperm wasn’t used in the surrogacy, you hadn’t been part of something that was against your religious beliefs?’ said Ren. ‘Is that it?’

‘I simply love my wife more than I love God,’ said Robert. ‘Yes, I’ve been Catholic all my life, but I didn’t know Ingrid all my life. When I met her, I saw the world a different way. She changed my life. And as time went on, I could see how clearly she wanted to be a mother, and what a good mother she would make.’

‘Did you not think that she wanted to be a mother to your baby, because she loved you ,’ said Ren.

‘It would still have been my baby,’ said Robert. ‘I would still have considered it that way.’

‘Vasectomies are also against the Catholic Church’s teaching...’ said Ren.

Robert Prince nodded. ‘Yes.’

‘And that’s OK with you too,’ said Ren.

Robert nodded. ‘Yes. Can you see that I may just be guilty of not agreeing with every single tenet of the Catholic Church?’

Thereby guilty of being quite the hypocrite.

‘This was a private decision,’ said Robert. ‘This was not something that Ingrid or I would ever publicly discuss.’

‘So, it was all right to do this, if it was kept secret,’ said Ren.

‘I love my wife,’ said Robert. ‘I think anything I do that is borne out of love for her is the right thing to do.’

What dark multitude could that cover?

‘For goodness’ sake,’ said Robert, ‘I’m a moral man — obviously I meant anything in the realm of what is good and moral.’

That tone of voice... the arrogance... the self-righteousness...

Hit him. Now. ‘Mr Prince, I’d like to talk to you about the OCBLA,’ said Ren.

Robert nodded. ‘What would you like to know?’

‘What your involvement is with them,’ said Ren.

‘I’ve been a member since 2002,’ said Robert. ‘Via charity work I had done post 9/11 to support the families of the firefighters, police, EMTs who lost loved ones in the attack. The OCBLA was pretty new, I met some of the members, I was impressed with what they were doing, I joined up.’ He paused, studying Ren’s reaction. ‘I acknowledge it’s an exclusive club of wealthy men — mainly men,’ said Robert, ‘but there’s nothing sinister about it.’

Who said anything about sinister?

‘We support each other, various causes, we meet for dinner every now and then, we have guest speakers, authors, Church figures, politicians...’

‘When you failed in your leadership bid in 2005,’ said Ren, ‘did you feel it was because you weren’t married?’

His eyes went wide. ‘No, I did not. That’s ludicrous.’

‘You lost out to a married man with children,’ said Ren. ‘Did you feel in 2010 that maybe not being seen as a family man could have been a problem?’

‘No,’ said Robert. ‘No. And I don’t appreciate this line of questioning, Agent Bryce.’

‘I have to ask,’ said Ren.

‘You’re wasting time,’ said Robert.

‘Did the OCBLA contribute to a settlement for the victims of two Catholic pedophile priests in Denver?’

Robert paused. ‘Yes.’

Ren waited.

‘I see by your face that that doesn’t impress you,’ said Robert. ‘You’re presuming that this is something negative, that this was about me supporting pedophiles or about me paying to make a problem go away.’ He leaned forward. ‘Not so, Agent Bryce.’

Patronization rocks. Check later if that’s a word: patronization. I’m not convinced.

‘I’m not patroni...’ shit , ‘presuming anything,’ said Ren.

‘I contributed so that victims were compensated,’ said Robert. ‘The diocese didn’t have the funds to pay them. The priests are long dead, they are no longer a threat. I’m not supporting pedophiles, I’m supporting victims who otherwise either wouldn’t have received a dime or would not have seen the money in their lifetimes.’

What do I do with that information?

‘It’s quite difficult to find one’s honorable deeds viewed in such an unfavorable light...’ said Robert.

‘Well, I like victims to be compensated too,’ said Ren. ‘In that, I like to bring their killer to justice.’

‘What are you trying to say?’ said Robert.

‘You’re presuming that this is something negative,’ said Ren.

He stared at her. ‘This conversation has taken a juvenile turn.’

Ren stared through him. ‘Do you think Laura Flynn might have felt betrayed if she had discovered that you had lied to her?’

‘I don’t know what Laura would have felt,’ said Robert, ‘I don’t quite know how the mind of a surrogate works. And I’m a man, I don’t expect ever to understand maternity and all that goes with it. I’m happy for that to remain an enigma. I was concerned for my wife and I was concerned for Laura, that they both had the very best.’ He paused. ‘I haven’t done very well...’

Ren went back to her desk and called Janine to tell her about the interview.

‘Ugh,’ said Janine.

‘And his explanation about not wanting to be a father because he’s “so old” is ridiculous,’ said Ren. ‘One hundred and twenty is old in my book — not fifty-five.’

‘It’s weird, we’ve stumbled into this private world of Robert Prince and it seems perfectly normal to him, but it’s just... bizarre.’

‘Maybe Laura stumbled onto something private too...’ said Ren.

‘Is it the religious militancy or... the wealth...?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Ren. ‘All I know is it’s an alien world.’